On Friday, winter shelters for homeless adults open in Oceanside, Escondido and Carlsbad.
Congregations with the Interfaith Shelter Network also offer winter shelters on a weekly rotating basis.
A winter shelter for North County families opened in October and its 45 beds are already full, many of them with children under 12.
North County’s approach to providing winter shelters for the homeless is different from the City of San Diego’s strategy. Instead of centralized programs, like the St. Vincent de Paul Village, where hundreds of people can find services, North County opens a network of smaller shelters around the region.
Beth Hallek, director of Operation Hope in Vista, runs the family shelter. She also chairs the winter shelter committee of Alliance for Regional Solutions, a loose coalition of North County cities and non profits formed eight years ago to help the homeless.
“We feel it’s harder to track our population here,” she said, “because it’s just a big space.”
North County’s nine cities spread up the coastline and across the highway 78 corridor to the unincorporated areas east of Escondido. Acres of canyons and undeveloped land are tucked in between the built-up areas.
Although the latest count shows more than 60 percent of the homeless in San Diego County live in the City of San Diego, about 18 percent, more than 1,600 people, live in North County.
The Alliance for Regional Solutions has built up a network of resources using a patchwork of funding. This year, funding is tighter than it was last year.
One element of the network is gone: the Interfaith Community Services’ Sobering Center, where people under the influence could find a roof for a night. The center closed last year.
Executive Director Greg Anglea said a combination of budget cuts and difficulty finding a location shut it down. That’s an issue because to get a bed in the winter shelter program, you have to be clean and sober, so there are few options for those struggling with drugs or alcohol.
Anglea said developing more treatment options is one of the priorities for next year.
Beth Hallek said the reasons for homelessness are changing. Some of the parents at the family shelter in Vista are working, but even so, they can’t afford housing.
“Most of our families are either unemployed or underemployed,” she said. “meaning that they don’t make enough to live in the area and support their families.“
Hallek said rent for a two-bedroom unit in Vista can run around $2,200 a month.
“We’re just working very hard to get people stabilized,” she said, “so that they can move forward in life.“
